1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of mop wringers. More particularly the present invention relates to the field of hand-operated mop wringers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Mop wringers are used for wringing mops. The majority of mop wringers currently used in general households and ordinary businesses or institutions are hand-operated. A hand-operated mop wringer is usually mounted on top of a small water basket. A user can rinse a mop in the water basket and then drain the mop with the mop wringer.
A conventional hand-operated mop wringer typically includes a housing which can be mounted on top of the small water basket. The housing supports two wringer plates. The two wringer plates are oppositely disposed and spring biased in a spaced apart relationship. Each wringer plate has a plurality of small apertures for draining the water. The housing further supports a mechanism which can drive the two wringer plates moving towards each other.
The driving mechanism can be operated through a wringer handle. The wringer handle is pivotedly mounted at its lower end to the housing.
To drain a mop with the mop wringer, a user first places the mop between the two wringer plates, then pushes down the upper end of the wringer handle. Each time the upper end of the wringer handle is pressed, the two wringer plates will move towards each other and squeeze the mop. When the upper end of the wringer handle is released, the two wringer plates will separate and the wringer handle swings back. The user can then remove the mop from the wringer.
The conventional hand-operated mop wringer described above has many disadvantages. For example, a user of the conventional hand-operated mop wringer has to bend down to operate the wringer handle. This is because the conventional mop wringer requires a two-hand operation which often puts the user in an awkward position. The user must use one hand to hold the handle of the mop, and use the other hand to operate the handle of the wringer. The user usually needs to maintain the mop handle in a generally upright orientation with one hand, while bending down to completely push the wringer handle down with the other hand.
In addition, the effectiveness of the conventional hand-operated mop wringer depends on the strength of the user. To drain the mop more effectively, the user needs to push the wringer handle down harder. In other words, how hard the two wringer plates squeeze the mop depends on how hard the user pushes the wringer handle. A user with less strength often has to repeat the operation several times to drain the mop as desired. Furthermore, the user often needs to operate the wringer handle repeatedly to drain the mop as desired.
These drawbacks of the convention mop wringer are very undesirable for people with less physical strength, especially elderly people. Even for people with normal strength, the awkward and laborious operation of the mop wringer increases their fatigue very rapidly. Therefore, it is highly desirable to have a new type of mop wringer which can overcome the shortcomings of the prior are hand-operated mop wringers.